Şimşek to meet businesspeople over new tax package

ISTANBUL

Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek is expected to meet with representatives of major business organizations to brief them on the government’s work on a tax package.

The tax bill aims to improve efficiency in tax collection and establish a more equitable tax system.

The Finance Ministry is still working to put the final touches on the tax package, which is expected to include regulations mostly concerning industrial companies and exporters.

Representatives of the Turkish Industry and Business Association (TÜSİAD), Türkiye Exporters’ Assembly (TİM), the Union of Chamber and Commodity Exchanges of Türkiye (TOBB), the Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEİK) and the International Investors’ Association (YASED), will attend the meeting with the Finance Minister.

Şimşek will brief business leaders on the context of the planned package, such as minimum corporate tax for multinational companies and minimum corporate and minimum income tax to increase the share of direct taxes in tax revenues.

The latest data from the Finance Ministry for the central government budget showed that overall revenues surged 101 percent in the January-May period from a year ago to 3.24 trillion Turkish liras.

Tax revenues rose by 99 percent annually to 2.73 trillion liras, with corporate tax collecting increasing 61 percent to 452 billion liras. Revenues from the value-added tax were up 176 percent to 356 billion liras, whereas special consumption tax collection rose 98 percent to 497 billion liras.

Expenditures increased 98 percent to 3.71 trilling liras.

The central government budget ran a deficit of 471 billion liras in the first five months of 2024, while the primary surplus amounted to 3.2 billion liras.